As the author writes in the introduction, "As we read the poems, the play, and yes, as we 'read' the paintings, we discover subversive explorations of these much-read and well-loved tales of divine love and divine wrath that challenge both the established literary conventions and the social hierarchy of the period".

This collection of essays offers an exploration of the meaning and significance of the Catalogue of Women, attributed to Hesiod.

By first examining the origins of ecphrasis as a rhetorical trope, as well as its association with simile, the author provides an historical context on which to base a discussion of Ovid’s own use of the device. Consideration is given to recent theoretical approaches to the subject, as well as to a selection of ancient texts that may have influenced Ovid’s work. After this, a more in-depth examination of relevant passages within the Metamorphoses is undertaken. The author concludes by considering the benefits of an intertextual approach to the material, as well as looking at the extent to which Ovid’s determination to both allude to and outdo his predecessors, influenced the style and substance of his work. In looking at the links between the literary and plastic arts, the reader is invited to consider the possibility that Ovid’s pre-occupation with artists and artistic endeavours makes the Metamorphoses itself both an extended ecphrasis and a commentary on Ovid’s obsession with his own artistry.

The influence on Ovid of Hesiod, the most important archaic Greek poet after Homer, has been underestimated. Yet, as this book shows, a profound engagement with Hesiod's themes is central to Ovid's poetic world. As a poet who praised women instead of men and opted for stylistic delicacy instead of epic grandeur, Hesiod is always contrasted with Homer. Ovid revives this epic rivalry by setting the Hesiodic character of his Metamorphoses against the Homeric character of Virgil's Aeneid. Dr Ziogas explores not only Ovid's intertextual engagement with Hesiod's works but also his dialogue with the rich scholarly, philosophical and literary tradition of Hesiodic reception. An important contribution to the study of Ovid and the wider poetry of the Augustan age, the book also forms an excellent case study in how the reception of previous traditions can become the driving force of poetic creation.

A consideration of the allusive poetry of Ovid based on the philosophy of Martin Buber

This study examines tales from The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-18 AD) and from The Lais by the French poet Marie de France (fl. mid-to late twelfth century) to explore a paradox: how can a vibrant, complex, and timeless vision be conveyed in convention-informed and time-bound language? Marie plays against Ovid’s tales to probe the dilemma, thereby echoing Ovid who does the same to the canonical literary monuments of his day. Both poets suggest that poetry can avoid the flattening effect of monumental canonizing not only by the creative use of literary echoes, but also by shifting perspectives on the conventional, which in turn, can encourage readers to see reflections of many stories in any given tale. Ovid and Marie suggest and encourage in this manner by presenting literary love’s topoi and traditional lovers from a variety of metaliterary perspectives, thereby eliciting active readerly memory as well as providing the opportunity to see the conventional afresh, activity that allows even canonical texts to become living memorials.